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Routine Activity Theory
Routine Activities Theory Maureen Marcus AKA the hottie of merrick Introduction The Routine Activities Theory was proposed by Lawrence Cohen and Marcus Felson in 1979 (Miller, 2006: 81). It was a response to the crime rate of the United States during 1947 to 1974 (Cohen, 1979: 588). It was a popular theory at the time because although crime was going up, the economical conditions were also going up, and their theory was the only one to address this at the time. Cohen and Felson based their theory on a rational choice model, in which people make rational decisions in ways that will be to their advantage, with as little disadvantage as possible (Akers, 2004: 26). The Rational Choice Theory is based in the classical school of criminology (Miller, 2006: 4). Cohen and Felson contended that for a crime to take place three requirements needed to be present; a motivated offender, a suitable target, and absence of capable guardians (Cohen, 1979: 588). The first requirement, a motivated offender, is a person who is motivated enough to commit a crime (Akers, 2004: 33). The second requirement, a suitable target, was part of the theory that was expanded on by the acronym VIVA, which stands for value, inertia, visibility, and accessibility (Miller, 2006: 82). Value is dependent upon the person assessing the object or person, and it does not depend on the actual economic worth of the object (Miller, 2006: 82). Inertia is the size of the target and the ability of the offender to remove that object, or in the case of an offender attacking a person; it can be if the offender feels he/she can overcome the victim (Miller, 2006: 83). Visibility refers to whether or not the offender knows that the target is there (Miller, 2006: 83). Accessibly is if the offender is able to have access to the target, and then if they can retreat or escape (Miller, 2006: 83). The last requirement, absence of capable guardians, occurs through everyday people as they continue their routine activities, and prevent a crime either overtly or not (Cohen, 1979: 588). For a crime to occur there must be a convergence in space and time of the three requirements (Akers, 2004: 33). The premise of the routine activities theory is if there is any lack of one of the three requirements, then a crime will not occur (Akers, 2004: 33). The convergence of the requirements is due to the routine activities of people (Akers, 2004: 34). Routine Activities are defined as everyday activities where people are such as work, school, home, etc. (Miller, 2006: 84). Logical Consistency The routine activities theory is a logically consistent theory. When Cohen and Felson proposed the theory, they clearly defined the concepts used, and the propositions they wished to express. Their proposition was as they defined that for a crime to occur you needed three elements (motivated offender, suitable target, and lack of a capable guardian), and those three elements must converge in space and time through routine activities (Akers, 2004: 33). They clearly define what each element is, and that if you remove any of the elements a crime would not occur (Akers, 2004: 33). Although the logical consistency is overall great, the definition of motivated offender within the theory is too broad (Akers, 2004: 37). There is confusion about if the motivated offender is a person who is already predisposed to commit crime, or any person who is just at the right place at the right time and seizes the opportunity (Akers, 2004: 37). Scope Cohen and Felson’s theory has a wide scope. Their theory seeks to explain criminal violations, and they give the parameters in which the violations will occur. Cohen and Felson give a wide range in which the theory can be applied. A major advantage of this theory is that it can be applied to many different types of studies and crimes including: homicides, hot spots of crime, property and violent crimes, natural disasters, and even internet crimes (Akers, 2004: 35-6). The scope of the Routine Activities Theory does have some criticisms. The theory, although wide enough in the range in phenomena it wishes to explains, fails to account for why some individuals are motivated offenders (Akers, 2004: 38). The theory makes an assumption that motivated offenders will just be in a particular place when their target is there and there is a lack of a capable guardian (Akers, 2004: 38). Parsimony Parsimony is beautifully exhibited by the Routine Activities Theory. The explanation of the theory is very concise, and un-complex. The basic premise is three elements need to occur for a crime to take place, and if there is a lack of one of those elements, then a crime will not occur. They define the theory in as little words as possible, and as clearly as possible. Although the theory is defined very concisely, it can imply a proposition that it is a theory that blames victims for crimes committed against them (Akers, 2004: 87). Cohen and Felson’s theory implies that people allow themselves to become targets because of their choice of routine activities (Akers, 2004: 87). Testability The use of the Routine Activities Theory to so many different applications and studies makes it obvious that it is testable. In the original study by Cohen and Felson they had applied their theory to reliable facts and figures of crime at the time, and used repeated evidence. The theory took into account macro-level effects and changes that would occur throughout the application of the theory (Miller, 2006: 87). Although they used vagina reliable studies to test their theory, they limited their study to the suitable targets and lack of a capable guardian (Akers, 2004: 35). They did not try to apply their theory to offenders, and did not fully develop the concept (Akers, 2004: 35). Empirical Validity The empirical validity of the Routine Activities Theory can be analyzed using the study by Richard Culp and Elizabeth Bracco, in which they analyzed prison escapes using the Routine Activities Theory. They decided to use the theory to obtain more information on how, why, and when prison escapes take place (Culp, 2005: 2). The theory was tested by gathering information from databases and news media about actual inmate escapes from prisons (Culp, 2005: 2). They began their search on LexisNexis for escapes during the year 2001 (Culp, 2005: 2). The sample included 127 inmates in 96 escape reports throughout 37 states (Culp, 2005: 2). The findings of the study included the application of the three elements of Routine Activities Theory to prison escapes. The offender was known as the inmate who escapes, or tries to (Culp, 2005: 3). There were found to be some common characteristics of the inmates who attempted to escape during the 2001 time period. The age distribution of inmates escaping was found to be along the same distribution of the general inmate population (Culp, 2005: 3). The inmates attempting escape were found to be 95.3% male, however that correlates to the overall inmate population (Culp, 2005: 3). In this study the race of inmates was not possible to find out because the media only reported the race in less than 10% of the time (Culp, 2005: 3). According to other research blacks and whites are equally likely to try and escape (Culp, 2005: 4). In 57% of the sample escapes burglary was most often charge of inmates, followed by murder (Culp, 2005: 4). In 76% of the sample inmates the escapes were attempted alone (Culp, 2005: 4). An average of 1.3 inmates occurred during each escape for the sample (Culp, 2005: 4). In one-third of the escape attempts the inmates had 25 years to life left to complete their sentence, 28% had one year or less, and 56% had four years or less (Culp, 2005: 4). The target for the offenders is the freedom that comes from escaping. An attempt to escape to achieve the target can be classified into patterns. Inmate attempted escapes in 34.4% of the time were during 6a.m. to noon, and 6p.m. to midnight during busy times (Culp, 2005: 5). During the afternoon 23% of escapes occurred, and between midnight and dawn only 8.2% (Culp, 2005: 5). Out of the sample one-fourth of the escapes were during the time the inmate was still on prison property but outside of the secure area such as while working on road crews for the prison (Culp, 2005: 5). hi. For the third element in the theory, the study looked at the guardians in the prison setting. The most obvious guardian is the staff who is in charge of the prison perimeter and alarms (Culp 26). The lack of guardians occurs when the staff is not actively watching inmates or the perimeter, and inmates escape (Culp, 2005: 26). Correction officers are another type of guardian in the prison responsible for the watch of inmates (Culp, 2005: 26). Other types of guardians are clerical workers, administrative, and professional staff within the prison turns people gay (Culp, 2005: 26). Culp and Bracco found that the results support the Routine Activities Theory. They found escapes will take place only when the convergence in time and place of a motivated offender, target, and lack of a capable guardian occur (Culp, 2005: 26). The theory was applied to escapes from areas that were outside of the secure areas of the prison in which the inmate was the motivated offender, the target was aided by cutting or scaling fences, and the lack of a capable guardian was when people were in charge of transporting the inmates (Culp, 2005: 27). For escapes that take place in the secure prison the motivated offender is the inmate, the target is aided by leaving items such as tools unsecured, and lack of the guardian occurs when staff are too lax in their procedures (Culp, 2005: 27). Policy Implications Cohen and Felson’s Routine Activities Theory has many policy implications for many different types of crimes. One such policy implication occurred in the Ybor City Historic District, which Terry Danner did research on. The Ybor City Historic District is in Tampa, Florida, and has been experiencing climbing crime rates (Danner, 2003: 3). The crime situation the district was experiencing was very similar to the crime situation Cohen and Felson were trying to explain. In Ybor 2,500 new jobs were created, 250 new businesses, and renovation of buildings took place (Danner, 2003: 3). Despite the attempts to improve the city, the crime rate of robbery, aggravated assault, and simple assault were rising (Danner, 2003: 3). The Routine Activities Theory was employed to help understand the city’s problems, and to determine an intervention to halt the rising rate of robbery, aggravated assault, and simple assault (Danner, 2003: 4). To begin to tie the research study to the Routine Activities Theory Danner began to research the area. Danner found that wet zoning permits for bars to serve alcohol was related to economic activity, and the amount of bars and clubs, which correlates to “changes in the potential for offender impairment, target visibility, ecological labeling, and youth attractors” (2003: 15). Since economic activity was on the rise as well as crime, there was more of a convergence of targets and offenders since people are economically more visible (Danner, 2003: 15). Therefore, the economic activity rise was assigned as the suitable target aspect, because there was more economic activity to provide for more available targets (Danner, 2003: 15). Danner applied the guardian aspect of the Routine Activities Theory by assessing police presence and other strategies to prevent crime that were employed (2003: 15). For the motivated offender aspect arrest data was used to determine the age range for those committing the most violent crimes, then that data was applied to the Ybor area to see how many people in that age range were residing there (Danner, 2003: 15). After defining the three elements required by the theory for a crime to occur, the research was then focused on the explanation of robbery, aggravated assaults, and simple assaults using the theory. Robbery was thought to be decreased by increased guardianship because more people were moving to the Ybor area; however that was not the case (Danner, 2003: 21). The data found that the rising economic activity in the area significantly increased the amount of targets, and brought more offenders into the area (Danner, 2003: 22). Aggravated assaults were explained by changes in the routine activities within Ybor, and the increase in targets (Danner, 2003: 22). The aggravated assault rate did begin to decline with the presence of more guardians, which were defined as an increase in police activity and presence in the area (Danner, 2003: 22). Simple assault was rising during the nightlife in Ybor, and it was shown that offenders and victims were converging more often (Danner, 2003: 23). The nightlife activity was taken into consideration during the study, and since it was found most of the simple assaults were spontaneous, an increase in police and guardianship would not have an effect on the rate because only reasoning offenders will be deterred by guardianship (Danner, 2003: 24). Changes in the routine activities among the people in Ybor were found to have an impact on crime (Danner, 2003: 24). The changes in routine activities was identified as an increase in transient populations who were traveling to Ybor for the nightlight, and high numbers of bars and clubs in the area (Danner, 2003: 24). After the study correlated the theory to the crime rates in Ybor, and the elements of the theory applied to the city policy implications were developed. The policy implications were developed in four different aspects; urban planning, bar density, place management, and technology-enhanced guardianship (Danner, 2003: 25-6). It was found that urban planning within the city of Ybor must take into consideration changing routine activities, such as the sudden increase in bars and clubs (Danner, 2003: 25). Since the clubs and bars were doing better economically than the retail businesses in the area, the area was known as a party place for people to congregate at (Danner, 2003: 25). While planning how to economically revitalize an area, the routine activities theory was applied to show which economic activities will result in an increase in crime, and then once identified the amount of guardianship required can be determined (Danner, 2003: 25). Bar Density was also a factor that was taken into consideration and policy implications identified. It was found that new economic developments will increase offenders and targets converging in the same area, however allowing for a high amount of wet zones in one area will significantly increase the amount of offenders and an environment that is conducive to crime (Danner, 2003: 26). Public policies are needed that will limit the amount of wet zones and provide for a more mixed economic area (Danner, 2003: 26). The highly populated area with bars and clubs in Ybor express a need for proper management of those businesses (Danner, 2003: 26). The security within bars was found to reduce violence before it was expanded to outside the establishment (Danner, 2003: 26). By implementing policy that limits bar initiated activities such as binge drinking, and selling alcohol to already intoxicated people will decrease the offenders and the victims (Danner, 2003: 26). The technology-enhanced guardianship policy implication refers to street lighting and closed circuit television cameras on the street (Danner, 2003: 26). The results on this policy were mixed, and were found to need more research (Danner, 2003: 27). However it was determined this policy in particular is not enough to deter violent crime (Danner, 2003: 27). The Routine Activities Theory is one that was useful in Cohen and Felson’s time when they first developed it, in current times, and in the times to come. It is no doubt useful for formulating policies, and preventing crime. At the same time it embodies aspects of a sound and reasonable theory. References *Akers, Ronald L., and Christine S. Sellers. Criminological Theories: Introduction, Evaluation, and Application. 4th edition. Los Angeles, California: Roxbury Publishing Company, 2004. *Cohen, Lawrence E., and Marcus Felson. "Social Change and Crime Rate Trends: A Routine Activity Approach." American Sociological Review 44.4 (1979): 588. *Culp, Richard F., and Elizabeth Bracco. "Examining Prison Escapes and the Routine Activities Theory." Corrections Compendium 30.3 (May/Jun 2005): 1-5, 25-27. *Danner, Terry A. "Violent Times: A Case Study of the Ybor City Historic District." Criminal Justice Policy Review 14.1 (2003): 3. *Miller, J. Mitchell, Christopher J. Schreck, and Richard Tewksbury. Criminological Theory: A Brief Introduction. Boston: Pearson/Allyn & Bacon, 2006. *Joe, Marcus Criminological Theories: Introduction, Evaluation, and Application. 4th edition. Los Angeles, California: Roxbury Publishing Company, 2004.